ZCZC
BCN-14
SYRIA-CONFLICT-ECONOMY-ENERGY
State-owned Syria firms in infrastructure hiring spree
DAMASCUS, Aug 4, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – State-owned Syrian companies are hiring
hundreds of employees in the gas, electricity, and technical infrastructure
industries, state media announced Friday, weeks after President Bashar al-
Assad said post-war reconstruction was a priority.
The country’s seven-year conflict has devastated its economy, but as
fighting winds down in many areas, the government and its allies appear to be
ramping up efforts to rebuild.
On Friday, Syrian state television announced government-owned companies
were looking to take on more than 850 new hires.
They included 97 positions at the Maharda hydroelectric power station,
which lies in the country’s central Hama province and saw fierce clashes in
2016.
Damacable, which sells electric wires, had 89 new positions open.
The Syrian Gas Company is hiring 175 people in the central province of
Homs, as well as Hasakeh in the northeast, and Deir Ezzor in the east.
The biggest hiring spree, according to state television, was for the
agriculture directorate in Hasakeh, which was looking for 209 new employees.
The remaining open positions included technicians, medical staff, and
agriculture workers in the southern provinces of Sweida and Daraa, where the
army recently waged a fierce military assault to oust rebels.
The Ministry of Information is also hiring more than 120 people.
Many of the open positions are in areas recaptured by government troops in
recent months, like Daraa, or in provinces where the regime shares control
with rival Kurdish forces, including Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor.
Most also included stipulations that half of the positions were reserved
for war-wounded or relatives of those killed in the conflict.
Assad last month said reconstruction was his “top priority” in Syria,
where more than 350,000 people have been killed and millions have been forced
to flee their homes since violence erupted in 2011.
The fighting has ravaged the country’s economy and gutted its
infrastructure, with water and electricity provision still spotty in many
areas.
The Syrian pound has plummeted in value to 435 pounds per US dollar,
compared to 48 per dollar before the war.
Last week, regime ally Russia urged world powers to help Syria’s economic
recovery. But those which have long called for Assad’s ouster remain adamant
that aid would only come with political transition.
BSS/AFP/HR/1025